1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates in general to motor vehicle mounting systems, and in particular to an apparatus for mounting a motorcycle engine to a transaxle in a dune buggy.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
For several years, recreational vehicles known as dune buggies have been available. These vehicles have oversized tires for driving on sand dunes. Typically, a dune buggy will have an exposed metal tubular frame. The drive means normally is an air cooled rear engine coupled to a transaxle which drives the rear wheels. The transaxle also contains a transmission section. Normally, the engine is a Volkswagen engine, as well as the transaxle.
While successful, these types of engines are expensive to modify if one wishes increased performance for competition. The performance of the stock engine is not very good. Also, the engines tend to overheat and are not very economical for fuel consumption.
Motorcycles having stock high performance engines are available. These engines will run at high RPM's and are fuel efficient. The larger engines are water cooled and could generate more torque than stock dune buggy Volkswagen engines.
Motorcycle engines, to applicant's knowledge, have not been installed in dune buggies. A motorcycle engine of a larger type has an internal transmission and an output shaft located on one side. This output shaft extends back to the side of the rear wheel for driving the rear wheel. There is no bell housing on the rear of the engine that could be coupled to the bell housing of a transaxle.